I read today’s prompt in the wee hours of the morning when I couldn’t sleep. I thought of a thousand things that I have complained about in my life, but none I wanted to write about. Instead, I thought of the why. Why do we waste our energy complaining? What is the benefit of speaking about things that upset us and make us uncomfortable, and that’s when it hit me? If no one complained, nothing would get changed.
Twenty years ago, when I was diagnosed with celiac, the food was awful. Nearly every food blog or message board about celiac disease brought up the problem. Not only was most of the food hardly editable, it was impossible to go out to eat. Most restaurants trivialized the autoimmune disease. The rollout was slow, but as more people drew attention to the subject, the availability of delicious gluten-free foods increased. Restaurants have become proactive with their menus and some have put forth an effort into controlling cross contamination.
While complaining can get roads fixed or spread awareness about problems going on in a community. It allows those who may be unaffected by a problem to become aware of a situation at hand. However, this can also cause issues within itself.
Sometimes the squeaky wheel is just that…squeaky.
Twitter, or X as it has been rebranded but not really adopted, perfectly exemplifies a dumpster fire of people complaining over things that don’t really matter. People complain about actresses in children’s movies. They fight over politics, and not about local government that they can actually effect. No, they bitch and moan over who has the best horrible candidate out there. Social media has taken complaining to a new level. One where everyone feels entitled to lament over their miniscule problems.
If you can’t tell, I was just complaining there 😉
But I don’t see any problem complaining to friends and family. Sometimes venting is the only thing that keeps us from exploding on those who may deserve it but can’t handle the response. Sometimes we need that outlet to share our feelings. There are many who think just because you may complain, it means you don’t care. But obviously, you care enough about something to bring about your disinterest in it.
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